A Hearty Eater

On Wednesday evening a wager was laid between William Laduke, of Vergennes, and Messrs. Forton & La Bombord, as follows: Laduke was to eat in ten hours two pounds of pork-steak, four large potatoes, one-half of a pie, two slices of wheat bread, each one and one-quarter inches thick, one-quarter pound of butter, half a bushel of apples, and to drink two cups of tea. At seven o’clock on Thursday morning the gourmand began his task by eating five apples. He then ate one pound of pork-steak, two large potatoes, one slice of bread, one-quarter of a pie, one-eighth of a pound of butter, and drank one cup of tea. The remainder of the forenoon he spent walking about and eating apples, of which he had devoured twenty-three at twelve o’clock. At noon he ate one pound of pork-steak, two large potatoes, one quarter of a pie, one slice of bread, one-eighth pound of butter, and drank two cups of tea. He was then weighed, and found to have gained seven and one-half pounds. For the next three hours he averaged about two apples per hour. At 5:30 p. m. he ate the the last apple and won the bet with half an hour to spare. His weight when he began was 145 pounds, and at the close 153 pounds, showing a gain of eight pounds in nine and one-half hours. Seven and one-half pounds of this he acquired in the first five hours, the last five hours adding only one-half pound to his weight. The half-bushel of apples was “heaping” measure, and numbered just sixty-five apples. Laduke is twenty-six years old, five feet seven inches in height, and has never experienced a sick day in his life. He is a thin, spare man, and has always worked out for his living, usually among the farmers. He experienced no unusual difficulty from his square meal, and offered to bet five dollars that he could eat another peck of apples the same evening.–Vergennes (Vt.) Cor. N. Y. Sun.